There is a significant rift between proponents of recording newborn infant footprints and those who believe this process is antiquated and ineffective. Typically, hospital and medical employees use an ink and paper method of obtaining such footprints. These footprint images then appear on such identification records as birth certificates. However, the problem as opponents of taking such footprints see it, is that the footprints often are not completely legible. Along those lines, it is contended that infant footprints conducted under current methodology do not provide the level of detail that current digital fingerprinting devices employ.
Even proponents of infant foot printing conceded that current techniques are often not adequate for identification purposes. One of the fundamental reasons for obtaining footprints of newborns is to avoid situations such as abductions and child-switching scenarios—deliberate or accidental. Footprints also are used in many other situations where a small child must be identified. The footprints of a newborn are obtained because medical and law enforcement officials contend that the general process provides a reliable, expeditious, and cost-efficient method for establishing probable personal identity of the child. According to various experts, every child's prints contain friction ridge details that are unique to that person. Even the footprints and fingerprints of identical twins are different, which can cause confusion if the footprint image is confused with other data at the time of its taking. And because the friction ridge detail does not change, law enforcement personnel have been known to identify adult victims of accidents and disasters via the footprints taken as a newborn. Even DNA testing at times has been known to confuse such people as twins, and certainly is more expensive. From this information, the problem is not the value of taking footprints of infants, but rather the quality of such footprints. To this end, the present invention solves this problem by providing a system for obtaining infant footprints in a portable manner that is backed up by safeguards to ensure proper storage and handling.
As mentioned above, the ink and paper technique of obtaining infant footprints is inconsistent and has a less-than-stellar accuracy rate. Medical employees usually are not properly trained in obtaining newborn footprints via inkpad and paper. Oftentimes, such prints are rejected and require the additional cost, time and inconvenience of a redo. In order to fully protect these paper prints, medical employees must scan the paper into a computer. This creates an additional problem of potentially bad or even smudged scans during the transfer process. The present invention solves this need by scanning directly from the infant's foot, as well as other related information that is saved in a compartmentalized file containing only the information of that individual child. This is conducted via the system and process described below where employee identification information is scanned into the file, along with biometric data of the parent, infant and parent wristband identification information, and the infant footprint. This information is collected all at once, then time and date stamped, so that there is no chance for any mistake.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,277,562 issued to Zyzdryn on Oct. 2, 2007 is a biometric imaging capture system and method. Zyzdryn captures print images and determines the quality of such prints. Unlike the present invention, Zyzdryn is not conducive to obtaining footprints of infants as it instead is related to fingerprints. The present invention, in contrast, is a portable system that incorporates a biometric device that is used to obtain and automatically compartmentalize into a designated file the employee identification information of the footprint taker, biometric data of the parent, infant wristband identification information and the infant footprint.
Similar substantial differences relate to U.S. Pat. No. 7,308,122 issued to McClurg et al on Dec. 11, 2007. McClurg is a biometric imaging system and method. McClurg scans fingerprints and then employs an indication system to confirm a good scan. However, McClurg does not offer the additional safeguards of the present invention such as automatically compartmentalizing into a designated file the employee identification information of the footprint taker, biometric data of the parent, infant wristband identification information and the infant footprint. In addition, McClurg is not conducive to infant footprints.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,187,540 issued to Staub et al on Feb. 13, 2001 is a method of newborn identification and tracking. Staub uses genotyping to maintain samples of the newborn and the mother. Unlike the present invention, Staub focuses on these cellular samples, which can be more costly and invasive. In contrast, the present invention is a portable system that incorporates a biometric device that is used to obtain and automatically compartmentalize into a designated file the employee identification information of the footprint taker, biometric data of the parent, infant wristband identification information and the infant footprint. Other items such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,485,981 issued to Fernandez on Nov. 26, 2002 rely on some sort of chemical or substance in their obtaining and tracking methods, as opposed to the present invention which is free of chemicals.
Currently, there is nothing that employs a system for obtaining infant footprints that couples this information with additional tracking mechanisms as described in the present invention. As such, the present invention solves a need in a completely accurate manner in terms of both the actual footprint image capture, as well as the additional safeguards as described.